Center for Teaching and Learning - Programming - Intentional Diversity

Inclusiveness

As our mission states, “The Augsburg experience is supported by an engaged community, committed to intentional diversity in its life and work.” What does it mean to be committed to intentional diversity? With respect to our students, it means that we recruit a diverse student body and create an inclusive, supportive learning environment that enables them to be successful . It also means that we prepare all of our students to effectively work in a diverse, global environment. For ourselves, it means that we recruit diverse faculty and staff, and create an inclusive, supportive work environment that enables them to be meaningfully involved in the work of Augsburg College. Programming includes the Creating an Inclusive Campus conference, Ideas About Inclusiveness, Embedding Diversity and Global Learning, Focus on Our Somali Neighbors, Inclusiveness Circles, and the Dean’s Internationalization Summer Travel Grant. Cari Maguire and Matt Maruggi are the CTL Fellows involved in helping plan these activities. Key partners include human resources, general education, the office of international programs, student affairs, and academic affairs. The Nobel Peace Prize Forum; Feminist Film Series and Brown Bag Lunch Series; the Native American Film Series; Soup, Gender, and Sexuality Series; and Ally Training also contribute to this purpose

Creating an Inclusive Campus Conference

This three-day annual conference will be held May 22-24 and is designed to feature key developments in fulfilling our commitment to intentional diversity and global learning at Augsburg College. It includes a keynote session focused on one aspect of creating an engaged, inclusive learning community, and concurrent session tracks devoted to: respecting all students, embedding diversity and global learning in the curriculum, and developing our community. The third day consists of half-day workshops for faculty and staff to focus on setting departmental goals and action plans for creating inclusiveness. The conference is co-sponsored by CTL, the Center for Global Education, Human Resources, Student Affairs, and General Education.

Ideas about Inclusiveness

This series of conversations is designed to help faculty and staff understand how to create an inclusive learning community that values all of its members. It includes discussions of teaching, advising, and coaching skills; and dialogues about specific differences and how they impact a sense of inclusiveness. This series includes a number of well- received sessions presented at the Creating and Inclusive Campus Conference last May.

These sessions will be held on Mondays. The sessions will be held 12:00-1:15.

November 7, Cedar Room, - Bev Stratton, Religion, and Sarah Combellick-Bidney, Political Science “Reasons and Ways to Talk About Race in the Classroom”
November 28, OGC 100 - Scott Washburn, Patrice Salmeri and student panel, StepUP, “Engaging Students in Recovery from Addiction”
January 23, OGC 100 - Matt Maruggi and Lori Brandt Hale, Religion, “The V-Word Dialogues: Teaching and Practicing Pluralism in the Classroom”
February 6, OGC 100 - Sheila Fox Wassink, CLASS, and panel, “Mentoring Students with Psychiatric Disabilities”
February 20, OGC 100 - Cari Maguire, New Programs, “Effective Strategies for ESL and Generation 1.5 Students”

If you plan to attend any of these sessions, please rsvp to Sarah Hedstrom (hedstrom@augsburg.edu).

Embedding Diversity and Global Learning

This series of workshops focuses on Augsburg’s Model of Diversity and Global Learning and how it is being used to help embed diversity and global learning in the curriculum and co-curriculum. These sessions will be held from 3:15--5:00 on Mondays.

October 31, OGC100 - Understanding Augsburg’s Model of Diversity and Global Learning (Velma Lashbrook and Ann Garvey)
November 21, OGC 100, - Contextual Competence – using knowledge of white privilege, power, and racism to address social injustice (Audrey Appelsies and Sarah Combellick-Bidney)
January 30, Riverside - Interpersonal Competence – using Intergroup Dialogue and other communication tools to develop empathy and improve relations with others (Laura Boisen, Nancy Rodenborg, and Vivian Jenkins- Nelson)
February 20, OGC 100, - Intercultural Competence – using cultural immersion to develop better understanding of other cultures (Orv Gingerich and Cheryl Leuning)
April 2, OGC 100 – Personal Competence – using self-assessment tools to better understand self (Tom Morgan and Velma Lashbrook)

To rsvp for these sessions, please contact Sarah Hedstrom (hedstrom@augsburg.edu).

Focus on Our Somali Neighbors

To serve our neighbors and be inclusive of our Somali students, we need to learn more about them. This year, CTL in conjunction with the Sabo Center and Pan-Afrikan Student Services is offering a series of opportunities to learn more. These include:

January 24, 3:30-5:00 – Forum on Historical and Cultural Context of Somalia (Dahir Jabreel, Frankie Shackelford, and panel)
February 14, 3:30-5:00 – Faculty Experiences in Somali Community Engagement (Mary Laurel True and faculty panel)
March 13,3 :30-5:00 – Somali Student Experience at Augsburg (Mohamed Sallam and student panel)
April 10, 2:00-5:00 – Walking Tour of Our Neighborhood with Mary Laurel True and Steve Peacock, Sabo Center

To rsvp for these sessions, please contact Sarah Hedstrom (hedstrom@augsburg.edu).

Inclusiveness Circles

CTL also supports a number of both open and closed learning circles or book groups through Work Culture Grants. Support for book groups is available through Group and Individual Project grant applications on the CTL website. This year we are sponsoring the following circle:

Race: Talking about race to support all our students, convened by Bev Stratton

As Dwight Garner’s NYT review of Randall Kennedy’s The Persistence of the Color Line says, we are “One Nation, Still Divisible by Race.” This fall a staff-faculty book group focused on race will read Beverly Daniel Tatum’s “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” And Other Conversations About Race. Discussing racial identity development through Tatum’s book should help us learn to support all of our students. The group may continue in the spring focusing on Kennedy’s book or another title. Fall meeting dates are four Wednesdays, 12:10-1:10 in the Cedar Room:

September 28 – A Definition of Terms (Chapters 1-2)
October 19 – Understanding Blackness in a White Context (Chapters 3-5)
November 9 – Understanding Whiteness in a White Context (Chapters 6-7)
November 30 – Beyond Black and White, and Breaking the Silence (Chapters 8-10)

To register for this book group and receive a copy of the book, please contact Sarah Hedstrom (hedstrom@augsburg.edu).

Dean’s Internationalization Summer Travel Grant

Two competitive internationalization travel grants (up to $2500 for airfare) are available to support teaching, scholarship, or service collaboration with Augsburg International Programs or Partner Institutions that facilitate internationalizing the Augsburg campus and curriculum. Applications are due January 15.

Nobel Peace Prize Forum

In announcing this 2012 event, President Pribbenow said, “We are honored to have F.W. de Klerk, former president of South Africa, as the keynote speaker at the Nobel Peace Prize Forum (NPPF) March 1 to 4, 2012. This address marks the 23rd annual celebration of the Nobel Peace Prize Forum and the first year that the event will be organized and hosted by Augsburg College in its new Twin Cities-based format. We are honored to continue this event with the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, the support of our sister Norwegian Lutheran colleges, and our community partners who share our commitment to education for peace.

De Klerk, who won the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize with Nelson Mandela, is known for his work to end apartheid, a systemic policy of racial segregation. De Klerk supported the transformation of South Africa into a multi-racial democracy, and in recent years has continued his work on peacemaking efforts.”

In addition to hearing from a Nobel Laureate, attendees also participate in workshops and conversations with people who have changed the world in large and small ways. The Forum allows time for informal discussion and networking, features world music and cultural events, fostering learning through different routes and with different audiences. As the only affiliation of the Nobel Institute outside Norway, the NPPF offers a unique opportunity to deepen our understanding of issues related to achieving world peace. All faculty, staff, and students are encouraged to attend.

For more information, see http://www.peaceprizeforum.org/

Feminist Film Series and Brown Bag Lunch Series (sponsored by the Women’s Resource Center)

The Women’s Resource Center sponsors a Feminist Film Series and Brown Bag Lunch Series to address diverse issues of concern to anyone concerned with gender equity.

Native American Film Series

The Augsburg Native American Film Series in collaboration with Phillips Indian Educators will host a free, three-day film festival on March 16-18, 2012.

Where Condor Meets Eagle: Indigenous Bolivian and Native American Film Festival and Cultural Exchange
Location: Parkway Theater, 4814 Chicago Ave. Minneapolis, MN 55407 (612-822-3030).

The festival celebrates Indigenous film, collaboration across national boundaries, and visual storytelling. “Where Condor Meets Eagle,” reflects the prophecy that when the Condor (Bolivia) meets the Eagle (North America) the Indigenous continent will be healed. This title also represents our philosophy to promote good health/living well for Indigenous communities through decolonization and self-determination. The film festival includes documentaries, docudramas, and narrative fiction films representing the work produced by three Indigenous film organization Igloolik Isuma Productions (Canada), CAIB (Bolivia) and Mushkeg Media Inc. (Canada) whose award winning work has been recognized globally at festivals including, the Native American Film + Video Festival (New York), Cannes, Toronto Film Festival, and the American Indigenous People and First Nations Film and Video Festival (Bolivia). The event also will include short films produced in the Summer 2011 by two award winning local youth-producer groups from Minnesota: MIGIZI Youth Producers and Project Reserve Youth Producers.

For more information, see: http://www.augsburg.edu/filmseries/

Soup, Gender, & Sexuality (sponsored by LGBTQIA Student Services)

This ongoing monthly series is open to the entire Augsburg College community as a dialogue around issues of sexuality, gender, and their intersections. All attendees can help themselves to soup, bread, and great conversation! For upcoming dialogues, check out the A-mail or the CAO Events Calendar.

Ally Training (sponsored by LGBTQIA Student Services)

Ally Training is available for all students, staff, and faculty at Augsburg College to gain knowledge, skills, and resources to enable them to be intentionally supportive of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA) communities. Participant will learn about LGBTQIA history and culture, confront myths and stereotypes, discuss heterosexual and gender-conforming privilege, analyze potential scenarios, ask questions in a safe environment, and discus next steps for being an effective ally to LGBTQIA individuals at Augsburg. Training is offered and advertised to the entire campus each semester, and customized training is available to departments, offices, and student clubs and organizations by request.

For more information, contact Michael Grewe (grewe@augsburg.edu).